Vietnamese English Teachers’ Perceptions of Culture in ELT Materials in Vietnamese Universities
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
Abstract
As one of the main purposes of using English today is for international communication and globalisation, English has been mainly used among bilingual speakers of English who come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds (McKay, 2006; Sharifian, 2014). In such multinational and multicultural contexts, today English learners have to deal with not only linguistic barrier, but also cultural barrier. Therefore, it is crucially important that they are provided with multicultural knowledge and cross-cultural awareness. However, so far, there has been little research into the perceptions of English teachers towards culture used in ELT materials in EFL contexts. Therefore, the research aims to identify how seven Vietnamese teachers of English in two universities in Hanoi, Vietnam perceived culture and the role of culture in language teaching. This paper also seeks to explore how their perceptions influenced the way they taught culture in their English class and the way they adapted and developed ELT materials for their students with the hope that it will provide useful and practical suggestions for developing appropriate ELT materials for EFL teaching contexts. The research is based on a qualitative research which applies mostly in-depth, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The data of this research reveals that most participants recognized the close and interrelated relationship between language and culture and the crucial role of culture in language teaching. They also identified the important role of English as an international language and cultural differences in ELT materials. Realizing a cultural gap in most of the materials they taught, they tried to adapt the materials based on their students’ needs.
Downloads
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Copyright (c) 2020 Do Lan Phuong
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research Methods in Education (8th ed.). London/ New York: Routledge.
Cortazzi, M., & Jin, L. (1999). Cultural mirrors: materials and methods in the EFL classroom. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Culture in Second Language Teaching (pp. 196-219). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Creswell, J. W. & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Los Angeles : SAGE Publications Ltd.
Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Denham, P. A. (1992). English in Vietnam. World Englishes, 11(1), 61-69.
Fang, T. (2011). Yin Yang: A New Perspective on Culture. Management and Organization Review, 8(1), 25–50.
Gibson, W. J., & Brown, A. (2009). Working with qualitative data. London, UK: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Gillham, B. (2005). Research Interviewing: The range of techniques. London, England: Open University Press.
Hall, S. (1997). Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices. London: Sage.
Hoang, V. V. (2018). The current situation and issues of the teaching of English in Vietnam.
Kachru, B. (1990). World Englishes and Applied Linguistics. World Englishes, 9, 3-20.
Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kramsch, C., & Zhu Hua. (2016). Language, Culture and Language Teaching. In G. Hall (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of English Language Teaching (pp.38-50). London: Routledge.
Lichtman, M. (2013). Qualitative Research in Education: A User's Guide (3rd edition). London, UK: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Mayor, F. (2006). Culture and the university. Higher Education in Europe, XIV(1), 5-15.
McKay, S. L. (2002). Teaching English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McKay, S. L. (2003). Toward an appropriate EIL pedagogy: re-examing common ELT assumptions. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 13(1), 1-22.
McKay, S. L. (2006). EIL Curriculum Development. In R. Rubdy & M. Saraceni (Eds), English in the World: Global Rules, Global Roles (pp.114-129). New York: Continuum International Publishing.
Ministry of Education and Training. (2008). The government: No.1400/QĐ-TTg Decision on the approval of the project entitled “Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education System, Period 2008-2020”.
Nault, D. (2006). Going Global: Rethinking Culture Teaching in ELT Contexts. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 19(3), 314 - 328.
Phan, L. H. (2008). The politics of English as an international language and English language teaching. In L. H. Phan (Ed.), Teaching English as an international language: Identity, Resistance and Negotiation (pp. 71-103). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Phan, N. L. H. (2017). Challenges/constraints in teaching today’s English in Vietnam: Teachers’ voices, presented at 8th Annual International Conference on TESOL SEAMEO RETRACT, HCMC, Vietnam, 2017. HCMC, Vietnam: SEMEO Publishing.
Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic Imperialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sharifian, F. (2009). English as an International Language: Perspectives and Pedagogical Issues. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Sharifian, F. (2014). Teaching English as an International Language in multicultural contexts: focus on Australia. In Marlina, R. & Giri R.A. (Eds) The Pedagogy of English as an International Language: Perspectives from Scholars, Teachers, and Students (pp.35-46). Springer International Publishing.
Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2013). Developing materials for language teaching (2nd ed.). London: Continuum Press.
Truong Bach Le, & Phan Le Ha. (2009). Examining the foreignness of EFL global textbooks: Issues and Proposals from the Vietnamese classroom. In J. Mukundan (Ed.), Readings on ELT Materials III. Malaysia: Pearson Longman.
Wiersma, W. (2000). Research methods in Education: An Introduction. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.